


Of Magic and Anxiety

by linatrinch



Series: Stormpilot Halloween [4]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Witchcraft, Fluff, M/M, Miscommunication, Mutual Pining, witch!Finn, witch!Poe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-31
Updated: 2019-10-31
Packaged: 2021-01-15 18:33:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,239
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21257744
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/linatrinch/pseuds/linatrinch
Summary: Strange things have been happening to Finn over the last year. Actually, it all started around the time he first met Poe Dameron. There's no connection there, surely. It's probably just an ancient curse or something. He'll be fine.The fourth annual Halloween FinnPoe Witch AU is here.





	Of Magic and Anxiety

**Author's Note:**

> Even I didn't think I was going to do it this year, but here it is! Not as grand as the others but it exists and it's cute. Good enough.
> 
> This is the first fic I've written in like 8 months, yeesh. For anyone still wanting more of my other fic, Modern Mythos, I still think about it constantly. Someday I'll jump back on that train. It's such good stuff. Anyway, enjoy! Happy Halloween!

Finn didn't understand what was happening to him. It had started a year ago, manifesting in such small ways that he scarcely even realized something was wrong until it grew too much to handle. Just little things, items appearing exactly where he needed them and decisions becoming much easier to make. That's as far back as he could trace that things had started acting weird.

It was much worse than that now.

Televisions and radios would change stations rapidly when he was near. Lights flickered when he was nervous. The temperature in his personal space seemed to rise and fall randomly. He could have blamed those on electrical surges and coming down with a fever.

An apple flying across an empty room was the point he started to face the inevitable. Something was wrong with him. Terribly, terribly wrong.

He considered talking to someone about it but didn't know who. Why would they believe him? 'I think I might be telepathic' wasn't something you just said. Plus, he couldn't control this power well enough to prove himself. It was just _happening_.

Maybe it wasn't him. Maybe he was cursed! That was probably-!

A loud knock on the door interrupted his thoughts.

Since his new abilities have been getting worse, he'd been slowly distancing himself from his friends. At first, it was so they wouldn't find out and think he was a freak or something. Now, it was for their safety. Hell, he barely left his tiny house in the last two weeks, thankfully putting all those PTO days to good use. This isolation couldn't last forever, though- Nah, he could probably make it stretch to forever.

The knock sounded again.

The point was, he hadn't seen or spoken to anyone in two weeks and hadn't made contact with his friends in at least a month. With Halloween coming up and Finn's anxiety through the roof, he couldn't face anyone like this.

Finn bit his lip and sneaked quietly into the living room, inching towards the door and hoping no one could see his shadow through the windows. The lights were already off so he had a leg up there.

Another rapping knock had him jumping back. “Finn?” It was Poe's voice. Of course, it was. He'd met the other man nearly a year ago now, around the same time this mess started, and had been not-so-subtly trying to seduce him ever since. He didn't really have the confidence for it and he was sure his attempts were going nowhere, but sometimes Poe flirted right back enough to convince Finn to keep trying.

But now was a _really_ bad time. He wasn't exactly in a state to impress _the_ Poe Dameron, as if he ever really was. Their friendship was still kind of new, he could lose him forever if he opened that door.

Yet, Poe didn't seem to be going anywhere. “C'mon, Finn. I know you're there. No one's heard from you, not even your job. I'm- We're starting to worry. I just need to know if you're okay, buddy... Finn?”

Maybe he should answer him. He didn't want anyone to worry or make things worse than they were. He _really_ didn't want to lose Poe.

Finn chewed on his lip, hesitating, worrying, clenching his fists over and over and trying to think in the few scant seconds he had.

But they were all for naught. There was a single, quiet knock and a sigh on the other side. “All right. It's okay.” Poe sounded so _sad_, more upset than he should. “Just... call Rey back? Please?” Then shuffling followed by silence.

Finn let out a breath he'd been holding, realizing that Poe was walking away. Not just in the literal sense, but he was _walking away_. He suddenly felt like if he let Poe go now, he was going to be gone for good.

He suddenly rushed for the door, letting his worries go all at once, and reached for the knob before he was stopped by... lights. Tiny orbs of light all around him, warm and bright and glowing like embers. _This_ was new. “Not now,” he hissed, stepping away and trying to shake them off like they'd flutter away if he waved his arms enough.

“Not _now_! Go away!” He flapped his arms around, thankful at least that they weren't getting bigger and trying to hurt him. They were just _there_, like all of his other stuff had just been _there_, and they were trying to make his life a well-lit nightmare.

There were two quick knocks on the door, and Finn cursed beneath his breath. Between his racket and the light show- Poe's voice spoke up again. “I changed my mind! Something's going on and I'm kind of concerned- Finn, if you hate me, just tell me to my face so I at least know you're all right!”

Nope. No. He couldn't do this. Poe was going to try the door any second now, and Finn couldn't do this. Didn't matter that it was locked. He wasn't going to do this.

He quietly made his way to the back door, opening it up just enough to slip out and scurrying away into the trees like the stressed out idiot he was turning out to be. Who hid from their crush in the small patch of wood behind their house? Finn, apparently. He was currently doing that.

At least the lights let him see where he was going as dusk fully set in.

* * *

Poe remembered their first meeting in sharp detail. He'd just moved into town and was taking BB-8, his corgi and rather unconventional familiar, to her first trip at their new pet spa. Finn had been working there part-time back in those days and his eyes lit up like stars when he saw BB. The other man had fallen to his knees to give her a proper petting down and said, “Aren't you precious! Look at you.” Then he looked up at Poe, his delighted smile fading into something closer to awe, and said, “Look at _you_.”

Finn immediately blushed and stammered out an apology and ushered BB to the back, but it was too late. Poe was smitten.

It was hard enough to find other men interested in a long-term relationship at his age. Even harder to find another witch. The magic and Light were pouring off of Finn in waves, though, as was his affection, and Poe had been trying diligently ever since to make his own feelings known.

But some things about their relationship bothered him. Well, one big thing. Despite how many times they'd been alone together, Finn never once mentioned the craft they shared. To be fair, neither did Poe, but he didn't want to be the one to open that topic. Finn was younger than him and seemed to like keeping his power hidden. Poe knew that some people resented the gift and he was hesitant to bring up such feelings in Finn.

And so it became their unspoken connection. Poe couldn't help but feel that if Finn didn't even want to mention that, then he surely didn't want to date him. He _must_ feel Poe's power as starkly as he could feel Finn's. All of the flirting had led him to believe that this was just how Finn was. No matter how much it hurt that his friend didn't or couldn't see Poe the same way, he couldn't let their friendship die. He was also sometimes too weak to _not_ flirt back.

Then the last few weeks happened. Poe would think that Finn was avoiding him if he wasn't also avoiding everyone else. He wasn't even returning Rey's texts. _Rey's_. So, yeah, he came over to Finn's house in the hopes of getting him cornered and finding out what the hell was wrong.

So much for that.

Poe had been walking back to his car, mood soured, when Finn's shout met him. _Not now_, he said. _Go away_. For an instant, Poe thought that he was talking to him and the pain cut him straight through the chest, but why would Finn say something like that after he walked away? What if he was talking to someone else?

To _something _else? Had he summoned something? Is that what's been wrong?

Scared, hurt, angry, worried- Poe quickly doubled back to the door and knocked again. “I changed my mind! Something's going on and I'm kind of concerned- Finn, if you hate me, just tell me to my face so I at least know you're all right!” He didn't want to threaten to break in despite the idea floating around in his head. The more milliseconds that ticked by, the more it sounded like a good idea until he felt Finn's presence leave the house.

His concern growing, Poe ducked around the corner, only to feel Finn get further and further away.

Was he running from him? Why? But something was definitely wrong, right?

Allowing himself to debate the merits of a chase for a few seconds, Poe decided to send a quick text to Rey and follow his friend. Hopefully, Finn still considered them friends.

So Poe took off and stuck to Finn's trail, sensing nothing else with him. He wished he knew if that was a good or bad sign.

Then, through the trees, he saw light and heard a voice. “You have to be kidding- I'm cursed. I'm cursed! Just go away! Curse someone else for a while!” Increasingly worried, he stepped through the brush to find that Finn really hadn't been speaking to him this whole time.

A cluster of Fairy Lights surrounded him, making Finn nearly glow in their light, absolutely stunning. Though, the fact he was flapping his arms around and yelling at trees was... less stunning. “Finn?”

The other froze and slowly turned to Poe in horror... that slowly morphed into confusion and then panic. “I can explain.”

Oh, he very much wanted to hear this explanation. For now, Poe raised his hands and slowly approached. “Look, whatever's going on, you're not alone. It's okay. Just talk to me, all right? I want to help. What's been going on with you lately?”

Finn stared back, his calm clearly holding on by a very thin thread. After a long moment when Poe almost spoke again, Finn finally said, “You can't see them.”

It was a statement, not a question. Increasingly worried, Poe looked around at the trees. “See what, buddy?” Maybe it wasn't as horrible as he was thinking. Some witches were gifted with clairvoyance and visions. Perhaps Finn was having a particularly bad vision of something.

Instead, he flapped his arms around again, gesturing at the Fairy Lights crowding him. Finn didn't say anything, though, opting to go the route of panicked grunts.

Poe looked at the spell, not finding it odd. It was a simple trick, one he mastered before he could even remember. Great, now he was worried again. “You mean the lights?” he asked, opening his hand to let a few float towards him.

Before he could ask a follow-up question, Finn lurched back until his back hit a tree. “You _can_ see them!” As if that was worse, somehow.

“Buddy, you're kind of freaking me out right now. What's wrong?”

“You!” He gestured in no real direction. “They! I-! _What!?_”

“Okay, let's take some breaths. You're okay, buddy. Just breathe, all right? Deep breath, c'mon. In... and out. There you go. C'mon-”

Finn slunk down the tree, following Poe's coaching as the other walked closer and sat down beside him.

* * *

What the hell was happening? What the hell was happening? What the hell was happening?

A slight bit calmer than he was before, Finn watched the sky as the stars slowly started coming out, his vision blocked every now and then by a passing ball of light or randomly floating pine cone. What the hell was happening?

“Finn?” Poe's soft voice was practically his only salvation at this point, the only truly good thing he could focus on. He looked over at him, not finding any horror. Only concern. “Can you tell me what's wrong?”

What's _wrong_? Had Finn gone crazy? Had he just _forgotten_ that pine cones aren't meant to float through the air? “Why aren't you freaking out?” he asked, well aware that he was staring at Poe like he was crazy. Then, an idea occurred. “Wait, you- You know what this is? You know what all this is?”

“What are you-?” Poe paused, his brow furrowed in his own confusion as he shifted in place. He glanced away, seeming more comfortable if he wasn't looking at Finn. “I knew you were a witch the moment we met, buddy,” he gently admitted.

Finn just stared back at him before his own brow creased. His confusion went straight to anger. “That- Poe, that's not funny.”

Poe's eyes fell back on him. He looked even _more _concerned. “What? Of course, you- I mean, I know some people do what they can to not use it, but you can't completely ignore-... Wait, did you not know?”

Finn leaned away from Poe, the tree's bark scratching over his back and catching his clothes. “What do you mean?” At least the anger was gone.

“Your family didn't tell you?”

What was this, a birds and bees talk? He knew Luke had been busy with work throughout his childhood but the man surely would have mentioned this nonsense. Finn slowly began to shake his head, utterly confused and trying to remember to breathe, when something else came to him. An answer easily plucked out of the air like some glowing string had led him to the conclusion. “I was adopted.”

He hadn't known his birth parents or anyone in his biological family. There were mementos and even a letter written by his mother while she was still pregnant with him, only a year before she and his father passed. The letter didn't mention this, either.

Poe's face fell, understanding finally spreading over his features along with sympathy. “Sorry, I didn't mean-... You really have no idea what's going on.”

“It started about a year ago,” Finn suddenly found himself saying, leaning forward to speak in a rush. “Not long after we met. It was just little stuff. Pens would appear when I needed them, that kind of thing. Then it got weird. One time the car started before I turned the key. An _apple _flew across the room and nearly gave me a black eye. There was no one there. It was just flying around. And now there's _this_! What is _this_!? Why are there a bunch of little lights chasing me? Am I sick? What did you mean by a witch? Is that bad? Am I-”

“Breathe.” Poe's hand landed on his shoulder. “Deep breath, c'mon. There you go. You're all right. This is okay. Everything's okay.”

Nothing was okay and would never be okay again. Rather than voicing the thought, Finn leaned back against the tree and took a few deep breaths.

“You're okay,” Poe repeated while rubbing his shoulder. “This isn't a bad thing. It's something you've always had. It, uh-... It's genetic, but we're such a secretive bunch that we have to learn through our-... Well, through our families.”

Finn took a few more breaths before he deemed it safe enough to respond. “I didn't always have this,” he answered, shaking his head. “Witches aren't real. Magic isn't real. If I always had this, then I would have figured it out during my Harry Potter phase. It hasn't always been- Did you say _we_?”

“I felt your power when we met,” Poe answered with a little frown. Finn felt a little sting over being pitied right now. “I thought you could feel mine, too, but you never brought it up. I thought you just- I don't know what I thought but it wasn't this. I'm sorry... Our powers emerge when we're near others like us, like our parents. They respond to our emotions and desires, but we learn to separate what we can and can't control. It's not difficult. I'll teach you if you want.”

There was too much in that whole statement to respond to right now. “You're a wizard?”

Poe smiled, the first Poe-Smile he'd seen in a _month_. “I'm a witch. It's what we were always called. People started trying to separate the genders back in Victorian England or something? I don't know. Call me what you want, though. But whatever I am, you're one, too.” Then he paused and smirked a little. “You, uh- You want me to say the thing?”

“No.”

Poe leaned closer, smirk vanishing and voice going deeper. “Yer a wizard, Finn.”

That's it. He broke. He transitioned so fast from horror to gasping laughter that he feared he might throw up. The tears in his eyes were also probably from the laughing. “This is _insanity_. This is crazy.” He gasped for breath, the laughs dwindling away and feeling Poe's hand on his back now. “This is crazy.”

“But you're okay,” Poe reasoned calmly, smiling softly again like he was proud of himself for easing some of the tension.

He let out a hard breath and looked over to the... other witch. Though Finn still had no idea what was going on, he was beyond the point of caring and decided to just drift through this dream until he woke up. Because this had to be a dream. How else could he explain any of this?

He realized they'd been staring at each other when Poe looked away with a bashful little smile. “You know, I thought-... I thought you were trying to avoid me since you never mentioned the whole-” Poe waved a hand at the lights. “I didn't think you were... interested-...”

Oh, but he was. If this was a dream, then let it be a _good _dream. Finn shifted, leaning a little closer.

But Poe looked back up at the lights. “Anyway-” Dammit. “-these are usually caused by... happy feelings. Warmth. Affection. Giddiness, sometimes.” Oh, _dammit_. “It's sort of spilling out of you. That's why it's manifesting like that. If you focus on the feeling, sort of accept it and take it in, you can control them.”

Finn had accepted his attraction to Poe Dameron a long time ago... but there were a lot of deeper things there, too. They had gotten close, and Finn had never been in a serious relationship out of fear of lose. So he ignored the base attraction and focused on what he really felt for Poe. It was affection and warmth. Definitely nerves whenever they were near each other, like now. Definitely a firm _like_ enough to bring Poe into his inner circle but more than that. Maybe a love. A love that made the world feel like it was swarming with these tiny little lights so everything glowed in the same warmth Finn felt every time he was near Poe.

The lights dimmed and slowly blinked out one by one. He could barely make out Poe's smile in the moonlight. “See?” he said, looking around before turning his smile on Finn. “That wasn't so hard, right?”

When Finn moved forward to take Poe's lips into a deep kiss, he could see the same warm light beyond his closed eyelids, burning brighter when the kiss was returned. Well... more practice couldn't hurt.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! ♥


End file.
